American Idle

I’ve been watching too much Netflix and too many bootlegged movies lately. I mean, like, a fucking ton. It’s starting to bother me again. I go through cycles where I get so removed from my inner self that I feel disgusted and have to go looking again. I was so proud back in the summer of 2009 when television stations switched from analog to digital signals. So everyone in the U.S. had to either get a digital TV or buy a digital antenna to convert the signal for analog televisions. It was at that point that I decided not to do either.

I’d had it with network television. Reality shows were all — and I mean ALL — that were available for viewing! It turns my stomach just thinking about it. I’ve always claimed it was a nation-wide dumbing down of America. I refused to be a participant. To this day I haven’t watched regular network television. And for a few years I was able to stay off of network TV and pay TV completely…until Kelly turned me on to Netflix. And he did it in such a devious way: he prepaid a full year of it!

Ok, a little background: Kelly is a close friend that I met through mutual college friends about 15 years ago (I’m guessing). He is a freelance architect who’s career moved him from Las Vegas to San Diego, and then to Oro Valley, Arizona where he currently resides. Since his career started in Las Vegas, he has strong contacts in this business circle and therefore still gets a great deal of work here. That, in turn, has him traveling to Las Vegas often. I always offer him my extra bedroom while he’s in town. It’s my way of being a gracious friend, however it turns out that he comes to LV much too often for my patience…but maybe I’ll save that for another time.

On with the story: although Kelly was not my roommate, he was spending a great deal of time in my house working on his projects and taking meetings during the day. It also happened to be during the time I’d cut ties with television. Well, he couldn’t take it. So one day when I came home from work, he was sitting on the couch, working on his laptop…with the TV on. And that was the beginning of my love affair with Netflix. He’d bought the service for a year, mainly so he could have something to watch while he stayed with me. I couldn’t help but watch it too. It had comedies and dramas and sci-fi and horror and adventure and documentaries! But most important of all: it wasn’t reality TV!

I’ve thought about letting the subscription run out but it was only a passing notion. I mean, wtf, it’s less than $10 a month.

But I’ve noticed that I’ve REALLY been watching too much of it. Not only that, movies are so easy to see via the internet. I’ve noticed that I’ll go weeks, literally WEEKS, repeating the same routine: Go to work. Come home. Turn on the TV. Make Dinner. Watch Netflix until bedtime. Repeat. Weeks turn into months until I realize that I haven’t written a goddamn thing or done any other creative endeavor. I’ll look back and see that I’ve got nothing to show for weeks or months of “living.” It’s shameful how unproductive I can be. And I’ve got so much in me if only I had the discipline to bring it out.

Anyway, there it is right there. My rant to try to get me off my lazy ass, to try to shame myself into living a more fulfilling and productive life. Well…